CAPTAIN PRAISES GOLOBART DEBUT

The good thing for us is Roman is a big lad and I think it worked well having him in the team."

Gary Caldwell

Roman Golobart has made three appearances for the first team in his Wigan Athletic career, helping his side to keep clean sheets in the FA Cup against AFC Bournemouth and Macclesfield Town but, his biggest test came last night up against a Stoke City side full of strength and aerial ability.

His leader at the back Gary Caldwell has played with six different central defenders now because of injuries and he welcomed the impact of Golobart on his Premier League debut.

Caldwell said:

“Roman did excellent because he’s a young lad and was given a real test against some very experienced forwards.

“As we know Stoke like to get the ball forward in the air and you need someone in defence who is willing to put their head in to get it clear and Roman does that.

“The good thing for us is Roman is a big lad and I think it worked well having him in the team.

“Last night was another step up for him and he did really well which hopefully will boost his confidence even more because we’ve got a real shortage of defenders at the momenta and we are going to need him as we head towards the end of the season.”

After going 2-0 down early in the second half Latics remained solid at the back from then on in and another thing that impressed Caldwell was the high percentage of possession his team had.

The 30-year-old said:

“We were disappointed to give the two goals away and there were poor ones in our point of view that could have been stopped.

“To go down 2-0 here against such a strong side and come back in the manner that we did was really outstanding and full of character.

“The performance was full of quality, the possession we had was unplayable for Stoke at times and we rounded that off with two goals of the highest quality.”